The UK's first research institute supporting veterans and their families will officially open at Anglia Ruskin University's Chelmsford campus today.

Former head of the army Lord General Richard Dannatt will help launch the centre and has given it his backing, along with Falklands hero Simon Weston and veteran Phil Packer, who is an ambassador for the institute.

There are an estimated six million military veterans across all three armed forces in the UK.

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Birds breeding in native British woodland are more susceptible to the effects of extreme weather than those in urban environments, according to a new study carried out across Cambridgeshire.

The findings of the study by Anglia Ruskin University have been published by online journal PLOS ONE.

The research examined breeding patterns of blue tits and great tits at three sites in Cambridgeshire over a ten year period and found that urban birds are better able to cope during unusually cold and wet weather because they are less reliant on feeding their chicks a single food source.